


Falling Star

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: Asylum, Deaf Character, Falling Stars, Fantasy, Gen, Magic, Shooting Star, Tavern, Wizards, mute character, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 05:16:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15942539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cecily Newman had her larynx cut out when she was younger, and can't talk. Now, she's locked up in a mental asylum. Charlie Nichols was born without hearing. Now, he's locked up in a mental asylum.Everyone knows that if you catch a falling star, all your problems are solved.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short story. A SHORT story. So, whilst this does have six parts, those parts will have max 800 words each. Also, let's just say that the cameo of Destiny isn't the last you'll see of her - maybe in a different work perhaps, maybe even a fanfiction... hint hint wink wink wink wink wink wink-

Everyone knows that if you catch a Falling Star, all your problems are solved.

You close your eyes in sheer bliss as you leap from a spire and into the chilly night air. The currents ripple across the feathers of your wings – for you are a bird, a bird as free as a bird can be. Little by little, the gusts of wind chips away at your beak. You know that when you die, that beak will be just a little bit smaller.

But no matter now. The humans below in their crummy little city do not know of what you are, nor of where you are. All they care about is their own crummy little lives, where they sleep in their crummy little beds, eat in their crummy little houses, kiss their crummy little lovers goodbye, travel in their crummy little cars to their crummy little jobs where they do crummy little meaningless work and eventually at the end of the day make the crummy little journey back to their crummy little spaces.

No, they don't matter to you.

And, of course, anything that matters to you is all that matters at all.

Sometimes – as you soar above the clouds, your wingtips seeming to graze the stars themselves – sometimes, you catch a glimpse of a stream of light. A – well, a lot of humans call them falling stars, but you know that they're not stars really. They're little gifts, little gifts of the greatest wisdom one could imagine.

The humans have legends about these little gifts. Some – the fattest and stupidest ones – think that they're just balls of gas. Of course, you know the truth.

Three hours. You'll be there when one of your receivers of this gift of wisdom wakes up – and once they have received it, your life's work is done and you can recede into the sky, flying away from this world and perhaps a little too close to the sun.

Three hours to you pass by in no more than a blink. You are old, older than this titchy little Earth by far. However, stars seem to like this Earth, so here you stay until your humans finds their gift.

Look! There's one of them, the girl – checking the door for the matron and pushing aside the blinds to see the morning. You can delve into her mind – and there, you find a peculiar thought as the sun warms her deep brown eyes.

_I want to soar beyond the world and touch the sun and thank it._

You clamp a wing over your beak to stop yourself from saying: me too, little human. Me too.

Cecily Newman turns away from the window and scrambles back into her bed. Matron comes over and clicks her fingers.

'Alrigh', pet, gimme a peep, thassa darlin'.'

Cecily opens her mouth and tries, tries,  _tries_  to make a sound... But to no avail. Matron sighs and scribbles on her clipboard.

'Huh. Anyways, you gon' be okay, pet? Good...'

Her voice trails off and Cecily falls back onto the covers, her tongue scratching around inside her throat as she looks at the sun. She wishes she could say to Matron or Dr Lanselius or a Wizard or to  _anyone_  that her larynx – whatever that is – is missing, but the whole point of missing a larynx is that you can't talk – and, as for writing, only those specially permitted can learn how to write.

The asylum that Cecily Newman resides in isn't exactly  _unkind_  to its residents. Or, at least, that's how it appears to be. And, yes, Matron doesn't invade your privacy, never hits you... But, there is a line that one crosses sometimes – and that line is when every single doctor (not to mention Matron) treats every single one of the asylum's residents as if they were toddlers. It's as if, every day, a huge whip of patronising pity wacks Cecily's side. And it hurts. A lot.

The morning passes by with no invites to join the tic-tac-toe or cards or rock-paper-scissors the other girls in the ward play for entertainment. It's generally accepted that Cecily Newman can't talk, and is therefore not worth their time.

Well.

Lunchtime arrives, and despite herself, Cecily feels a smile creep across her face. Since some Wizards have been putting up new Infection wards, the boys have to come across to the girls' ward for lunchtime and the afternoon. It's been going on for a week, and each time, a boy (who Matron called Charlie) sits down beside her on her bed and they eat lunch together in contented silence.

Whatever slop is cooked up is laden into bowls and passed around, and again, Charlie sits on the end of Cecily's bed. He flashes a smile at her and she smiles back briefly. There's something... Different. In the air. And as Cecily watches Charlie take a few bites of the slop, she finds a better analogy for it.

That magic air whenever someone makes a Wish - a Wish that dislodges a Star from its resting place in the Night Sky...

You get out of Cecily's mind and are almost sick with the innocence and youth. How could a single being have so much ignorance for the real, dark world, not just this sickly place? How could she hope for a life better than this? Nevertheless, you've planted the seed in her mind - and the Night Sky.

Freedom is just around the corner.


	2. Chapter 2

After going back to your bird and taunting some of the crummy little humans, you soar back down to the mental asylum. Sometimes, it seems as though the people who run them are the ones who are mad, not the residents.

Ah! You can see Charlie Nichols sprawled on his bed, a tiny pinprick of light from a Star in the Night Sky shining over him...

It's a Sign. A Sign that Cecily's Wish worked.

You let part of your mind seep out of the bird you're currently inhabiting and fill a little crevice of Charlie Nichols's brain - not enough to control, just to observe.

A hand shakes his shoulder roughly, and Charlie Nichols opens one bleary eye. There, in front of him, is that girl from the other ward - he's managed to learn a few letters of the alphabet to make out CECILY on her information plaque by her bed. She points to the door, then winks. He gets it immediately; they're going out - out into the world where perhaps he could hear the sounds of... Of... Something beautiful, it must be.

The girl takes hold of his wrist and together they tiptoe past the sleeping Matron and to the laundry chute. She nods once, raising one eyebrow. Charlie nods back and leaps down the chute.

It's not a bad fall to the bottom. No, definitely not. Unfortunately, Charlie lands on a pile of vomit settled on top of a standard hospital gown (this is technically a hospital, what did he expect? He couldn't count how many times he'd seen (and smelled) another boy throw up). Luckily, he manages to roll off the pile of dirtied clothing and onto the floor before Cecily drops down behind him. She taps his shoulder and points up at the one-meter squared pane of glass that the builders of this place seemed to think certified as a window.

A flash of light streaks across the sky.

Cecily tilts her head towards it, and Charlie understands, and the understanding reverberates through his very bones as she pries open the window and helps him through to breathe the crisp night air.

They're going to catch a falling star, and then all their problems will be solved.


	3. Chapter 3

'Destiny.'

'Spirit.'

You ruffle your feathers indignantly at the green dragonfly.

'If you're going to refer to me by what I am, then call me a slave, for that is all I am to you.'

Destiny flutters to the rim of an abandoned mug of beer. The Wizard who had been drinking it is now drunkenly swaying to the beat of nonexistent music on top of the candelabra and jabbing her fingers into the air in a way that is completely out of sync with her hips.

'Spirit, part of our agreement was to treat each other with respect. Part of that respect is calling each other by our natures. Mine is Destiny, yours is Spirit.'

You squawk loudly - making the bartender cleaning dirty bottles with a dirtier rag glance up suspiciously, but probably just assumes that you're a Wizard's Familiar. Destiny flutters closer to the candle to drink in the heat and to chatter more.

'You do have to realise the absolute trust I am putting in you, Spirit. I've never used a tempter rather than a vessel. Tempters tend to have minds of their own, whereas vessels...'

You extend your wings, stretching them out.

'Vessels are meek and obedient, also known as what you think I should be. However, you promised me freedom if I completed this task  _and_  gave you a happy ending, and certain drawbacks must accompany that freedom. I apologise for your inconvenience. Good day.'

And with that, you take to the skies.

Destiny watches you go as she mutters endless curses. Normally, she's quite peaceful, but using tempters are risky, and riskiness generally brings out the worst in her. She would've liked to use a vessel, except that Fate dared her to take a chance. And here she is, in yet another world, following the story of Cecily Newman and Charlie Nichols, two random humans, the only thing remotely interesting about them being Cecily's lost larynx and Charlie's inability to hear.

Of course, it's fun. Anything that Fate, Destiny, or Kismet does is fun and should be viable food for thought for everyone back at the Hub. But... Something about you sets her teeth on edge. Maybe it's the way that you constantly use a bird form, just to drive home the fact that Spirits are slaves for Destiny and her two siblings and that the price for this dare, this bet... Is to set free a Spirit that... Doesn't exactly  _unnerve_  her, no, quite the opposite exactly, but-

The tavern door opens. There, the candlelight illuminating their faces, stand Cecily and Charlie.

Of course. Destiny flutters up to the rafters to a dark alcove.

Cecily and Charlie make their way up to the bar, but falter.

Cecily can't speak. Charlie couldn't ever hear enough to get a grasp on how to say language. Only Wizards and important figures are taught how to read and write.

How on Earth are they supposed to communicate with anyone that they need to catch a Falling Star?

'Oi! You kids!'

Cecily turns, tapping Charlie on the shoulder to alert him to the noise he can't hear. There, the bartender washes his dirty rag with dirty water, clicking his tongue.

'Ah, I recognise those gowns. Asylum, no?'

Cecily nods, gesturing for Charlie to do so as well.

The bartender's corner of the bartender's mouth twitches.

'Go to Inlustris Hill. Lots o' stars there. You poor 'uns looker need it.'

Cecily touches the tips of her fingers to her lips and waves goodbye, squeezing onto Charlie's wrist from excitement so hard that his fingers go white. At this rate, they'd be catching a star by next nightfall.


	4. Chapter 4

The Night Sky's Stars beats down on Cecily and Charlie's faces as they steal through the back roads of the village in complete silence. Along the way, Charlie snatches what food he can - fruit, milk, bread - from windowsills and doorways. Finally, they emerge out into the outskirts, and Charlie stops.

His head is heavy with weariness Slowly but surely, his eyelids drip down, threatening to close. Cecily stops ahead and turns around. The canvas bag of fruit seems sterile and cold in the starlight.

Charlie taps his wrist, then points up at the sky with a shy smile. Cecily offers a brief emotionless smile in return as she holds up one finger. Charlie nods, and-

He'd just gotten someone to understand him through the power of miming.

A laugh escapes him, and he doesn't realise it until Cecily takes his hand and presses it against his chest to feel the vibration.

It's beautiful in a way that he can't see.

With new, raw determination, to catch that Falling Star and hear this beautiful laugh again, he sets off at a brisk walk towards the forest.

As promised, the pair travels only for a night before coming to Inlustris Hill.

To the children, this seems perfectly normal. To you, however... You know of the old legends and myths about Inlustris Forest.  No human should be able to penetrate it and live to tell the tale.

Well, you know what's wrong. Fate's going to be angry. But at least that freedom, ever so close yet ever so far, is within sniffing distance, as humans say.

Your form gently swoops down to Inlustris Hill where Charlie and Cecily sit in comfortable silence. You know what they must do next.

Wait.


	5. Chapter 5

A green dragonfly lands next to you and you turn to face Destiny.

'News, eh?'

Destiny shakes out her wings and manages to look haughty, even though she's the size of your talon.

'Fate - no, scratch that,  _Kismet_  - is not going to be happy. You guided them through the forest and didn't let them run into  _any_  traps, not even a Lost One! Readers in the Hub  _need_  conflict, Spirit! Otherwise, the main characters seem like Mary Sues!'

You stare down at her listlessly.

'Let this be your first lesson in trusting Spirits. We will do anything for freedom, and make it  _quick_. That means taking as little time as possible in getting to the end of the story if you hire one of us as a Tempter.'

With that, you spread your wings and take to the sky, Destiny flapping desperately behind you.

'Look - Spirit...'

You land on a higher tree.

'Shoot.'

Destiny hugs her wings against the trunk of the tree as droplets land on the green chitin.

'This isn't how things work. I'm not supposed to care about you, or your freedom, you're just a slave. But...'

You snap your beak.

'But you care about me. If you care about me so much, then unloosen a Star from the Night Sky  _now_ so I can just be free already.'

Destiny flies to your beak and you squark in astonishment. She climbs to the top of your head and you freeze.

'Only on one condition.'

You sigh. Here's the catch.

'That we're friends.'

A bird-like smile stretches awkwardly across your face.

'Why, Destiny, you wound me in thinking that we weren't already.'

Destiny laughs and both of you stand there, in companionable silence before she takes off to loosen a Star from the Night Sky. You guess that the warm feeling you feel inside yourself is this thing, friendship.


	6. Chapter 6

Cecily squeezes Charlie's hand again, feeling the worry tense inside him. Then-

A sparkle of light looks like it's dropping.

Calculating the trejectory, it really does seem as if this is the best place to catch Falling Stars. Cecily reaches her hands up to the sky and catches Charlie's eye, and he does the same. The speck of light falls down, down, down... Right into their hands.

One thing that Wizards don't tell anyone about Falling Stars, is that when you catch one, it dies.

And whenever you see someone or something die, images from their life flashes past your eyes.

This star in particular had witnessed some of the greatest things down here on Earth. In those few seconds, both Cecily and Charlie reeled in the sheer bliss of seeing things that they couldn't ever imagine seeing.

And then the star fizzles out, and Cecily reaches for Charlie's hands. She tries speaking, to say something, but-

Nothing will come out.

Charlie cocks his head to listen for the crickets chirping, the steady breathing coming from Cecily, his own heartbeat, but nothing happens. Because stars don't grant Wishes, no matter how many you try. They're really little gifts of wisdom. And as Cecily encircles her arms around Charlie's frame, she understands this little gift of wisdom more than anything else in the world.

Everyone knows that if you have a friend who understands you, all your problems are a little better.


End file.
